Scorched Scarecrow
by amy.werner.794
Summary: It isn't easy to go from being friends to lovers, and then go back to just being friends...sometimes it isn't even possible. This story looks at Lee and Francine's complicated past history.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Scarecrow and Mrs. King is the property of Warner Bros. and Shoot the Moon Productions. I'm borrowing their characters for entertainment purposes only.

Author's note: My thanks go out to Lanie Sullivan and Janet Hill for all their help with this story.

Two weeks ago, she'd been wondering what it would be what like to share the rest of her life with him, but as she knew all too well, a lot could change in a short period of time. _Jonathan ran off because he couldn't handle the idea of being married to an agent. I should have seen it coming, but I didn't. But Lee, he loves this life too…and he respects my abilities…why did he end things between us?_ Last week, she'd told him to, 'go to hell' and now she was locked in a small, dark room with him because she couldn't stand by and do nothing when she saw him being attacked by two thugs outside of Nedlingers. While attempting to loosen the ropes that bound her hands behind her back, she watched him lying motionless on the floor several feet away from her.

The darkness prevented her from seeing him clearly, but she could make out dark bruises on his handsome face and dried blood along his sandy brown hairline. She'd seen him beaten up in the past, but the fact that he hadn't moved at all in the hours since they'd become captives was beginning to unnerve her.

"Scarecrow," she whispered urgently, wanting to rouse her former lover without drawing their captors' attention. Receiving no response, she grew more desperate to bring him around in order to assess the extent of his injuries. Using her left foot, she eased the back of her right stiletto-heeled shoe loose and kicked it directly at him with all her strength. The shoe hit its intended target in the chest with more force than was necessary. He moaned and opened his eyes in an attempt to determine the source of the current assault on him.

"Damn, Francine, are you trying to kill me?" he grumbled loudly, as his vision cleared enough to allow him to recognize her.

"Keep your voice down, somebody clearly wants you dead, but it isn't me. What are you working on?"

"Nothing important, I'm catching up on my paperwork, Billy refuses to give me a new case until my reports are up to date," he griped. "The girls in steno aren't being of much help…they feel that I've been ignoring them. They're jealous of you."

"Didn't you tell them that you dumped me?" The bitterness that she felt towards him returned as her concern about his physical condition diminished.

"I didn't 'dump' you."

"You did!" She eyed him coldly, daring him to deny it. _At least he dumped me face to face, unlike Jonathan._

"I did not! I explained to you why we shouldn't continue-"

"Our relationship, you unceremoniously ended-"

"You're wrong…I don't have relationships…they always end badly." If she could have seen him more clearly, she'd have observed a haunted look in his hazel eyes that he rarely allowed others to see. "I date, no strings, no emotional attachments…it's better for everyone concerned that way."

"Who are you trying to convince? Me or yourself?" The sound of muffled Russian accented voices and the door to their temporary prison being unlocked silenced the pair's argument. Two men in their twenties entered the makeshift cell; the burly one closed the door behind them and placed his back against it, while the other one approached Lee. He glanced at him quickly and then turned back to face his partner, Andrei.

"He looks like hell, but he's conscious, I was afraid that the little slut you hired might have accidentally given him too much of the drug. They're not going to pay us for a dead agent…they'll want to get as much out of him as possible before they kill him themselves." He roughly pulled Lee into a sitting position. The agent found he was unable to offer any resistance, he had the sensation that the room was beginning to spin and he slumped over. His captor dragged him over to the wall and propped him up against it. "Try to look like the tough guy you're supposed to be," he snarled disdainfully. Withdrawing a small camera from his jacket pocket, he proceeded to photograph his newly acquired merchandise.

"Nic, don't waste all the film on him," his compatriot demanded. "I want a few shots of our blonde bonus, so I can remember what she looked like before I have some fun with her."

"Leave her alone," Lee yelled, as some of his Scarecrow bearing returned. _I have to get her out of this; she wouldn't be in this mess if it weren't for me._

"Your girlfriend should have minded her own business-"

"I'm not his girlfriend," _anymore,_ Francine interjected. _I'm not going to let them argue over me as if I'm not even here._ "I'm an agent, too," she huffed. Nic spun around and eyed her speculatively.

"Get real, Francine, your father is just humoring you by letting you play agent," Lee countered quickly.

"What does my father have to do with this," a visibly confused Francine demanded.

"Not the man that raised you, your real father, Austin Smyth. He can't publicly acknowledge you, but his whole world revolves around you."

"Your Agency director has a…ah…"

"Love child is the phrase you're looking for," the blonde filled in as she began to understand where Lee's ploy was headed. "He spoils me rotten. Do you think I could afford to dress this way on a rookie agent's salary?" Andrei walked over to her, reached down and stroked her cheek with lust in his eyes.

"A couple of hours with me will bring you down a few notches," he threatened, as she recoiled from his touch.

"Leave her alone, Andrei. The Americans might pay more for them than our KGB comrades would. We're in this for the money. We don't owe our countrymen any loyalty; they turned us away when we tried to join them. Maybe, we should find out how much Smyth will part with to get his daughter and her super-spy boyfriend back?" They retreated from the room, leaving the two agents alone.

"You're either crazy or a genius," Francine whispered.

"I'm both…that's part of my charm," he replied with a smile.

"That combination may be your downfall," she countered saucily. _I'll give his ploy a chance, but I intend to come up with my own backup plan._


	2. Chapter 2

Billy Melrose was seated on an uncomfortable hospital chair, as he maintained his vigil at the bedside of one of his youngest agents. He hated to see his agents injured, but it bothered him even more when he couldn't determine precisely how they had come into harm's way. He'd never thought of the beautiful blonde as vulnerable, yet watching her sleeping fitfully, she didn't resemble the 'I'm as tough as any of the guys' agent that he was accustomed to dealing with. When it became apparent that she was having a nightmare, he gently touched her shoulder in an attempt to rouse her.

"Francine, you're safe now, you're just having a bad dream," he said soothingly. Standing up, he grasped her shoulder tightly. "Wake up," he urged more loudly than he'd intended, his sense of helplessness having gotten the best of him. 

"Lee," she murmured sleepily, while pulling free of his grasp on her. "What happened?"

"Francine, it's me, Billy." Her blue eyes shot open and she tried to focus on her supervisor.

"Where's Lee?" she asked while struggling to sit up. Her vision started to blur and she found herself being pushed back down by Billy.

"We can discuss him later," he stated brusquely, trying to keep his face as impassive as his churning emotions would allow. "I've been able to piece together that you and he were grabbed last night by two amateurs. I can only assume that you're responsible for their belief that you are Dr. Smyth's daughter…a clever ruse, although the old man didn't find it as amusing as I did."

"Actually, it was Lee's idea. He thought that if they believed that then we could convince them to sell us back to the Agency, rather than the KGB. It was also the only way to let you know that we'd been snatched."

"It was a good plan; we were on the way to rescue you when…" He briefly looked away from her, swallowed the bile that was rising in his throat, and turned back to the bed. "What started the confrontation that led to your injuries?"

"Plan B."

"What was plan B?"

"It was my idea. I didn't share it with Lee because I know him well enough to be sure that he wouldn't have agreed to go along with it." She closed her eyes and tried to forget what happened when she put her plan into action.

"Francine, look at me! I need to know what happened." 

"I knew that Andrei, the goon that was guarding us while his partner was meeting with you, was attracted to me. He'd been leering at me, touching me and threatening to have 'some fun with me'. They were amateurs, they handcuffed Lee, but they only tied me up with rope. I was certain that if I could get him close to me while his partner was out, I could trick him into untying me and then-"

"You thought that you could take on that gorilla single-handedly," Billy interrupted incredulously.

"He was all over me, I had the rope around my wrists loosened, and then Lee started to yell at him to leave me alone. He screamed that a real man didn't need to tie a woman up to…Andrei was infuriated and turned his back on me. I reached for his gun, but I wasn't fast enough, he whirled around and slammed my head against the wall. I slumped to the floor and…oh my god…I heard a shot as I passed out." Billy sunk back into the chair at her bedside. "Tell me Lee isn't-" Her voice caught in her throat and she couldn't complete her sentence.

"The Agency team that I was leading heard the shot as we were preparing to storm the building where you were being held. We had a med team with us-"

"Billy, just tell me," she implored, her blue eyes brimming with unshed tears. 

"He was hit in the chest." Billy struggled to not become lost in his own memories of the horrifying blood-soaked scene that he'd rushed into. "He's young and the doctors seem to think that he's a fighter." _I'm not so sure anymore. He was a fighter, but he's suffered so many losses…I'm afraid that he doesn't have any fight left in him._

"Where is he? Why aren't you with him?" She struggled to sit up and looked at her supervisor intently. 

"I can't be in two places at once. I need answers and you're the agent that can provide them." The reply sounded as unsatisfactory to his ears as it did to hers, but it was the only one he was prepared to voice.

"Fine, I've given you your answers, now you take me to Lee." She clutched the bed sheet that was covering her and struggled to not let her tears fall. 

"You're in no condition to go any place."

"I'll decide that." 

"Francine, be reasonable, there's nothing that you can do for him. He may not even…" 

"I can make sure that he isn't alone…he wouldn't have gotten shot if he hadn't been trying to protect me. Are you going to take me to Lee, or do I have to find him on my own?"

Convinced that she would indeed find her way to Lee on her own, Billy gave into her demand providing that she agree to being checked out by a doctor first. Since her head was pounding and she felt slightly faint, she readily agreed to submit to the examination. After being seen by a doctor and receiving a pain killer, a nurse assisted her into a wheelchair and took her to Lee's room.

"Ms. Desmond, before I wheel you into your friend's room, I must prepare you for what you're going to see," the nurse advised kindly.

"Thanks, there's no need, I've seen gunshot victims before," she replied with false bravado. _He must look really bad. Could that be why Billy was avoiding seeing him?_ She clutched the arms of the wheelchair and put on her best poker-face. "I'm ready to go in." She paled as she was rolled to his bedside, and looked at his too still form hooked up to a variety of medical devices and monitors.

"Please feel free to use the call button if you need any assistance." The nurse looked sadly at the injured couple, and then left them alone. Francine reached out and tenderly stroked his forehead as unshed tears once again burned her eyes. She quickly withdrew her hand and roughly swiped at her cheek, where the tears had started to fall. _Why did you have to go and play knight in shining armor? Of all the male agents that I work with, you're the one that never treated me differently because I'm a woman. When Harper wouldn't stop calling me 'Secret Agent Barbie' you're the one who decked him. I thought that you believed that I could handle myself in the field. I knew that you wouldn't like my plan to take on that goon myself…but I was sure you'd go along with it once I made my move._ She shuddered briefly as their last few moments of captivity replayed in her mind. Emotional and physical exhaustion overtook her and she slowly drifted off to sleep.

Hours later, she was awakened by Lee's whispering her name. Her eyes flew open and were met by his, as she reached for the call button to summon the nurse. He feebly swiped at her hand to stop her, while he looked at her with a concerned expression on his face. 

"Are you alright?"

"Am I alright? Why are you asking me that? You're the one that was shot!" There was no mistaking the incredulousness in her voice.

"It's not the first time that I've gotten shot and I doubt that it'll be the last. I'll be okay…I always survive." _It's the people who are the closest to me that end up getting hurt or worse. "_ You didn't answer my question. You look like shit…are you okay?"

"It's no wonder your relationships with women don't last. No woman wants to be told that she 'looks like shit'…even if it's true."

"I didn't mean to be nasty, I'm worried about you. You don't look…ahh…I've never seen you without makeup before…even when we were-"

"Shut up, Scarecrow, I understand what you're trying to say, and trust me you'll never see me without makeup again." They lapsed into a momentary silence until Francine couldn't contain her emotions any longer. "What the hell were you thinking? That stunt you pulled almost got you killed. I could have handled Andrei-"

"He was about to rape you!"

"He was going to TRY, but I'd loosened my ropes, I was about to make MY move on him when you decided to play the hero," she replied hotly.

"How was I supposed to know that? You didn't share your plan with me."

"I didn't tell you what I had in mind because I knew you wouldn't have agreed to it."

"You're damn right, I wouldn't have…you wouldn't have been in any danger in the first place if you hadn't tried to help me outside of Ned's."

"Do you think that I could have stood by and done nothing to help you?"

"Last week you told me to 'go to hell'." _I hated the way that you looked at me that day, but we were getting much too close…I had to push you away.  
_

"I was angry at you then, you can be incredibly infuriating at times, but I don't want to see you…dead." _I don't think that I could cope with the guilt. And I don't want to live my life without you in it in some way. You accept me as I am and I've come to count on you for that._

 __"Well, I don't want to see you dead either. I don't have many close friends, but you've become one of them. I'd like our friendship to survive whatever else went on between us. Are you willing to go back to simply being friends?"

"I guess so, you need someone to keep your ego in check when you get too caught up in being the great Scarecrow." _Where could he possibly find someone who'll understand him as well as I do? I'll bide my time, have a good time with other men, and eventually he'll realize how right we are for each other._

"And you need a man in your life who'll be more interested in watching your back than your backside. So are we back to being friends again?" 

"Yes." She theatrically reached out and pushed the call button to summon the nurse.

"What did you do that for," he groused. 

"You need to be checked by a doctor, and as your friend I intend to make sure that you are," she replied with a mix of smugness and genuine concern. He closed his eyes, resigned to submit to the exam, knowing that if their positions had been reversed he would have done the same thing. 


End file.
